Rapidly sheared homogeneous stratified turbulence in a rotating frame

Abstract

Rapid distortion theory is applied to stratified homogeneous turbulence that is sheared in a rotating frame. Insight into the stabilizing and destabilizing effects of the combined stratification and frame rotation is gained by considering initial fields that are two-dimensional, with the axis of independence aligned with the flow direction. For these conditions, we derive solutions for the Fourier components of the flow variables, and for one-point statistics in physical space. The analytical results are in qualitative agreement with the exact numerical solution for initially isotropic homogeneous turbulence, and they could be a reference point for the development of turbulence models. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.